During a recent interview to Danish magazine BILLED-BLADET, Gustav, 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, revealed how it was important for his maternal grandmother, Queen Ingrid of Denmark, to always keep close family ties between her three daughters and her grandchildren.
That, however, could be a complicated mission, considering that each of her three daughters lived in different countries. Queen Ingrid’s eldest daughter is Denmark’s current Queen, Margrethe II, and she has always lived in her birth country, while her two younger sisters both moved to different countries after marriage.
Queen Ingrid’s youngest daughter, then Princess Anne-Marie, was the first to marry. In 1964, Anne-Marrie married King Constantine II of Greece and moved to her new country. Nevertheless, destiny had other plans for the couple who were forced into exile after a military coup in 1967, and they later settled with their young family in the UK.
Princess Benedikte, the middle child, married Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, and moved to Germany, where the couple resided at the family’s castle in Berleburg.
Determined to keep her family together, Queen Ingrid always had her grandchildren over at her official residence in Copenhagen, Frederik VIII’s Palace in the Amalienborg complex.
Queen Ingrid also set a family tradition of always having her entire family spending the summer at their residence in Jutland, Gråsten Palace. Today, Queen Margrethe keeps alive the tradition started by her mother. And it was there that Prince Gustav created a strong bond with his cousins, Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim of Denmark. Prince Gustav says that to this day they are all great friends and always have a pleasant time when they are together.
Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg is the eldest child and only son of Princess Benedikte of Denmark and the late Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. The Prince is considered a member of the extended Danish Royal Family but has no rights of succession as he didn’t follow the condition his grandfather, King Frederik IX, set at the time of Benedikte’s wedding. Gustav has been in a long-time relationship with American author Carina Axelsson.
